


Another Way to Fly

by Tallihensia



Category: Smallville
Genre: Adventure, Drama, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-27
Updated: 2012-01-27
Packaged: 2017-10-30 04:49:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/327908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tallihensia/pseuds/Tallihensia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clark is hauling Lex back to Metropolis after another misadventure when they are hit mid-flight with a kryptonite ray.  Lex's doing?  Or not?  What happens next, neither could expect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Way to Fly

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** Only mine in my dreams. ^^ This story was written for free entertainment purposes only and may not be reproduced for profit or altered without permission.
> 
>  **Warnings:** none
> 
>  **Spoilers:** none
> 
>  **Notes:** AU future fic. For my Clexmas Bingo Card. Square at the end as it's a spoiler. ^^ Beta by Ronda.  
>  Cross-posted to [my livejournal](http://alatrific.livejournal.com/36315.html)

# Another Way to Fly

"Damn it, Lex!" Superman yelled as they flew over the ocean.

"What the hell are ... Where do you get off on yelling at _me_?" Lex yelled back, ignoring their precarious position several thousand feet up. "You're the one who smashed up my experiment!"

"It was dangerous!" Superman shifted his grip on Lex slightly, to tuck the cape around him a little bit better.

"It wasn't dangerous until _you_ blew it up!" Lex reflected that while Superman was exceedingly careless of property, at least he was keeping his anger out of his grip on Lex. "And I could have flown back on my own! You don't have to carry me like a child."

Superman snorted. "It was dangerous and risky both – even if you were the main one in danger, it was still risky. If you don't like the lecture you're getting from me, be thankful I'm saving you from the one you would have gotten from Aquaman! And your plane blew up when the machine did. What were you going to do, sprout wings and fly?"

"I was going to call Mercy," Lex tried to reply with dignity. Which was hard when you were being dangled over the ocean wrapped in a bright red cape flying over the ocean at a speed only German cars should exceed. It was part of Superman's odd powers that they were even able to talk or breathe while up here. Lex wasn't even sure if the cape was necessary for protection, with the odd way that Superman's powers worked.

"You weren't going to ask for a pick up, you were going to ask her to bring the back-up model so you could try again." Superman snorted again. "No way."

Lex had to give him that one, at least mentally, though he'd never say it out loud. "How did you even find out about it?"

"I was---" 

A green light washed over them and Superman convulsed in sudden pain, his grip on Lex loosening. 

One second too late to react, and Lex was suddenly falling. The bright cape unwrapped itself from Lex's body to float separately and Lex tried to grab it to use as a make-shift parachute but it slipped through his fingers.

Then he was grabbed again with a grip only a little more shaky than it had been before.

"What the hell?! Are you insane, Luthor? Using a kryptonite ray on me while I'm _carrying_ you?!" Superman raged at him, his face pale and sweat still upon his brow.

"I didn't," Lex started to reply, himself shaken to the core. "It wasn't---"

The light came again. This time, Superman held on, despite his pain, but he obviously also had lost all powers and now they were both falling. Lex grasped at Clark, holding him tightly in return, watching the gritted teeth and scrunched up face, the sweat pouring off of skin that was suddenly almost hot to the touch, as well as starting to glow green on its own, not just a reflection of the light.

"Clark!" Lex yelled futilely, trying to twist his body between Clark and the ray.

Then it was gone again.

They fell for several more seconds while Lex became aware of the wooshing of the air as they passed through it and how close the ocean was starting to get. He held on tightly to Clark.

Clark stirred within his grasp and then they were flying again.

"Not me," Lex said urgently. "It's not me... is there cover you can shelter in?"

"Have to... get you... to safety..." Clark was gasping out at the same time as Lex was speaking. Clark looked horrible.

"Clark…" Lex couldn't remember the last time Clark looked this bad. He twisted himself around, trying to see if he could put himself in-between Clark and wherever the beam was coming from. From what he could remember, it was above. Probably either a plane or satellite-based.

Clark was resisting Lex's attempts to move, holding him tighter and flying in slightly loopy sweeps grimly off in an angle to their former destination. "I see a passenger plane; I can get you to it."

"And what are you going to do, punch a hole in the plane to put me in?" Lex asked while he was still juggling ideas of his own. If he could grab his phone, he could call Mercy and---

This time, the green glow _hurt_. Lex could feel it throughout his body, his mutant healing reacting in a way it did sometimes when he was very severely wounded, working feverishly to cure him. This was much the same, his whole body hot and pain lancing through his nerves, electric and terrifying while at the same time somehow reassuring. If he could just get through it, things would be okay… if he could get to his asthma inhaler, he could escape the flaming rock…

With a cry, Lex felt his shirt tear apart around him. He hadn't noticed when Clark had dropped him again but now Lex was… Lex was drifting. He wasn't falling. Clark, however, was. Lex dove down instinctively and grabbed Clark, pulling him into his chest and holding him closely.

Clark's eyes slowly blinked open. Then he kept blinking. "Lex. We're dead? You're an angel?"

"What? What are you babbling about?" Lex was concerned that this latest kryptonite ray had damaged something inside Clark's head.

Clark stabilized himself in the air, not as reliant on Lex's grip and he reached out beyond Lex's shoulder to touch…

Lex gasped. That was… Clark was touching Lex, but… Lex twisted his head to see Clark's hand on a large white wing, traditional feathers and all. But Lex could _feel_ Clark's touch, stroking along his feathers, gently gliding with a feel that was sensuous and sent shivers through his body. It wasn't like skin. Perhaps like hair might be, but Lex didn't know. He just knew that this was very very weird.

"What is this?" Lex, now that he was aware of them, tried to flex his wings. They moved at his command, beating gently an extra flap more than the gentle slow movements he'd been making all along to keep them up in the air. It was completely instinctive, his reaction to these wings and knowing, absolutely knowing, that they were a part of him and how to use them. 

Fascinated, he started to turn a loop in the air, but then he saw green and heard Clark's cry.

"Damn it!" Lex cursed as he dove to catch an unconscious Clark. He spread his wings out protectively over Clark, the white of the feathers reflecting the green of the beam. Squinting, Lex couldn't see anything obvious on the path and it seemed to go pretty much straight up. Almost certainly a satellite. And not a powerful one since the beam had to keep shutting down after only a brief time. Already it was off again. 

Clark, however, was still unconscious, not recovering as quickly from the multiple exposures. 

Lex hefted Clark in his arms, wondering at how Clark could suddenly feel so light – his wings were obviously doing the work, rather than his muscles, and maybe something a little extra there? Later, he could figure that out later. For now, there was a cloud.

Above them and off to a side, the cloud was a rain-cloud, darkly dense with water particulates about to fall. Lex flapped his wings and flew quickly to it, putting himself and Clark inside just as another green ray found them. The cloud, however, blocked it, just as Lex had surmised.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Lex turned his attention back to Clark.

"Hey," Lex patted Clark's cheek. "Hey, wake up. Come-on, Super-guy, you can do it. Open your eyes."

The green eyes slowly blinked open, the blue of the illusion gone with Clark's weakness. "Lex?"

"That's it," Lex encouraged. "You can do it. Steady-up, there."

"Are we dead?" Clark again reached out to touch Lex's wing.

Lex shivered through the touch. "Meteor mutation. Don't know if it's a brand-new one or a refinement of my healing. All that kryptonite did something to it."

"Something." Clark didn't move out of Lex's arms, but he reached out more definitively and stroked the wings with a firmer hand, ruffling the feathers and curiously running along the outside edge where there were smaller, softer feathers.

Lex shuddered again, his whole body reacting to the sensations, along with Clark pressed up close to him and Clark's arm right over his shoulder and…

Lex leaned forward and kissed Clark desperately.

There was no reaction at first, Clark completely immobile in his arms. Lex broke away, turning his face from Clark in shame."Sorry. Sorry."

Clark gently turned Lex's head back towards him and this time was the one who initiated the kiss.

Maybe they were dead. Lex didn't think he would have ever ended up in heaven, but the wings and Clark's kiss seemed to indicate else-wise. 

And then they fell out of the cloud while kissing and reality reminded them of what had happened.

Lex folded his wings around Clark, desperately trying to protect him from the ray while trying to get back into the cloud. Trying to do both at the same time was awkward, but Clark helped, not getting the full effect of the ray this time while the wings shielded him.

When they were back inside the cloud, Lex felt his temper erupt. "That fucking _does_ it!" He pulled out his cell phone which had luckily been attached to his belt and not inside his coat, and punched Mercy's number. "Mercy, there's a raging lunatic up there shooting kryptonite potshots at Superman from a satellite. Find that satellite and shoot it down! Then find out who was controlling it and haul their ass into my office! And if it's one of ours, they're fired, damn it!"

When he finished discussing it along with probable locations and details and descriptions of the ray and possible technology on it, Lex hung up.

"What!?" he snapped at Superman. "What are you laughing about?"

"You," Clark replied. "You saved my life."

"That's a hell of a segue."

"No, it's not." And Clark reached out and took Lex in his arms again, showing him another way to fly.

  


* * *

  


END

**Author's Note:**

> The Clexmas Bingo square I was writing for was wingfic. ^^
> 
> Fruitbat made me a banner! ^____^


End file.
